Cartridge feeding mechanism



July 10, 1945- c D. SPAGNOLO CARTRIDGE FEEDING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 1,1945 Patented July 10, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE 2,380,083CARTRIDGE FEEDING MECHANISM Cosimo D Spagnolo, New York, N. Y.

Application September 1, 1943, Serial No. 500,792

' 4 Claims.

This invention relates to guns and particularly to cartridge feedingmechanism for army submachine guns that are fired from the shoulder, andan object of the invention is to provide improved automatic mechanismfor elevating cartridges held in a clip into successive positions forloading. Another object of the invention is to provide a clip and.housing in which the cartridges are supported in but a single verticalrow containing the requisite number. A further object of the inventionis to provide simplified means for feeding the cartridges directly intosuch loading position from a row that is always substantially invertical alignment with the barrel of the gun to which the mechanism hasbeen applied. r

'Other objects of the invention reside in details of the structurewh'ereby the loaded clip may be more readily inserted in the housing, beretained dependably therein, and be quickly and conveniently releasedtherefrom. Further objects and advantageous features of the inventionwill appear throughout the following specification.

Heretofore it has been considered impractical to feed cartridges fromclips having but a single row of an adequate number, because of the eX-'cessive range required of the spring beneath the cartridges resulting intoo much loss of spring power when the last cartridges in the clip areapproaching theloading position horizontally aligned with the gunbarrel. Also because such springs required so much space that thecartridge housing would hang too far below the gun stock spacebeneaththe cartridges'to lift a single rowv of ten the full distancerequired without loss of efficiency.

In the drawing forming a part of this specification,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a gun with a portion of its barrel brokenaway, and showing an embodiment of the invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the cartridge housing showingthe loaded clip in operative position.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the parts shown in Fig. 2 with the cartridgesremoved from the clip.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail vertical section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3with the cartridge-sup porting mechanism in an elevated Position.

Fig. 5 is a' similar view on the line 5--5 of Fig. 3, and

,Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical detail section on the line 6-6 of Fig.5.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the gu I0, shown in Fig. 1, hasa cartridge housing II secured thereto in any suitable manner, such asby screws passing through the holes l2 into the gun stock, and includesthe usual guard 13 for the trigger [4. Housing ll extends downwardlyfrom a position just forward of trigger l4, but

not to an objectional extent.

Within the housing ll there is a rectangular carriage l5 havingsideplates [5 with rollers l6- at the respective corners thereof thatride on surfaces provided .by shoulders I! formed on the inside ofhousing II and extending perpendicularly from the bottom to the top. Thebottom of. the housing beneath the carriage runway is closed by a walll8 which forms an abutment to limit the downward movement of carriagel5. Otherwise the remainder of the bottom as well as the top of thehousing is open.

One of the side plates 15' is cut away to accommodate a pinion l9 havinga hub 20 extend ing across the carriage, and which is journalled in bothof said plates. A screw 2! is threaded in the outer end of hub 20 andbears against a washer 22 which contacts the end of the hub 20, andbeing larger in diameter than the hub is adapted to prevent accidentalwithdrawal of the pinion and hub from the carriage. The hub 20 extendsacross an opening between the plates l5, and the inner end of asurrounding spiral spring 23 is attached to it by a pin 24. The otherend of spring 23 is secured to a fixed transverse pin 25 secured to'andbetween plates i5.

Pinion I9 is in mesh with a vertical rack 26 secured to the inside ofhousing II adjacent one of the shoulders ll. It will be apparent thatwhen the carriage l 5 is moved downwardly from the position shown inFig. 5 to that shown in Fig. 2, the pinion l9, engaged by the stationaryrack 26, will be rotated in a counter-clockwise direction Winding up thespring 23. The ratio of the gear is suitable to wind the spring 23adequately during such travel of the carriage.

An. arm 21 is pivoted at 28 to the carriage 15 between the plates 15'and is urged upwardlyby a flat spring 29 secured to the arm and with itsouter end bearing against a cross bar 30 of the carriage. A lug 21 onarm 21 projects beneath it and has an arcuate slot 3|. A cross pin 32secured at its opposite ends to plates I5 passes through the slot 3i andserves to limit the movement of arm 21 in either direction by itsengagement with the ends of said slot. The outer end of arm 21 isgrooved at 33 to provide a seat for the lowermost casing of a row ofcartridges 34 which are supported in the housing H within a clip 35 invertical alignment with the bore of the barrel 36 of the gun I0.

To the arm 2'1 there is secured another flat.

spring 3'! which extends forwardly toward a d.

above the pivot 28. It is preferably also shaped at its outer end toconform to the shape of the cartridges 34 adjacent the bullets 38.

Clip 35 is U-shaped as viewed in plan, and is constricted but open attop and bottom with sides 39 and a rear vertical wall 40. Thelatter ispressed outwardly midway to provide a loop 4| adapted to latch on asecondary trigger :42 pivoted at 43 to housing I l and extendingtherefrom within a slot 44, and into the opening defined by the triggerguard I3. A spring 45 and attached plunger 43 urge the trigger 42 'intoengagement with loop 4|, the finger flange 4'! of trigger 42' beingwider than the slot 44 and serving as a stop by its engagement with theouter edge of said slot. The sides 39 of clip 35 are provided with theusual ribs 39' for engagement with the-grooves 34 at the head of thecartridges, and function to hold the latter in line. i

It will now be understood that after the cartridges 34 have beeninserted in the clip 35, the latter may be inserted in the top ofhousing H through the customary opening in the top of the gun It forthis purpose, With the bottom cartridge in engagement with the arm 2'!and spring 31. If the clip be now pressed downwardly arm 21 will berocked against the urge of spring 29, spring 3'! will be depressed, andsince the pin 32' will now be in contact with the end of slot'3loppositely to the position shown in Fig. 5, the carriage 95 will descendand pinion I!) will be rotated byrack 25. Spring 23 will begin to wind,and when the clip has reached its innermost position the loop 4| willtrip and catch on the trigger 4.2. The urge of spring 23 will now exerta lift on the cartridges, the uppermost one being pressed against theconstricted top opening where the side walls converge, as shown in Fig.3, and into a substantially horizontal position approximatelyin linewith the bore of the barrel 36. It will be noted that arm 2'! when inthe corresponding position shown in Fig. 2', is inclined at an anglecomplementary to that assumed by the bottom cartridge because of thetaper of the cartridge casings which causes a progressively increasingdegree of angularity from top to bottom of the clip. Also that thespring 31 provides an elastic support for the column'of lead bullets 38directly above it, and contributes to the support of the cartridges insnug engagement with each other. I

The gun it may be provided with suitable mechanism (not shown) forextracting an empty cartridge from the barrel and then inserting the topone from the clip into the breech of the gun.

Upon such removal of the top cartridge, the carriage l5 and associatedparts will rise under the urge of spring 23, acting through the pinionl9 and rack 26, a distance equal to that of the diameter of thedisplaced cartridge, and this step by step operation will'be repeated'until the the rack 25.

last cartridge has been removed from the clip 35. The empty clip is thenfree to drop out of the housing ll. However, upon the introduction of anew loaded clip the empty one will thereupon be ejected should it stillremain within the housmg.

Clip 35 is held in fixed perpendicular position by the engagement of theforward edges 35 with vertical shoulders 50 formed on the inner sidewalls-of housing ll, together with the engaging walls 40 and 5l. Thelatter is channeled at 52 to accommodate the loop 4|.

An upper stop 53 is provided for the carriage l5v whi h is. se red y ascrew 54 to the top of one of the side walls of the housing so as to beengaged; by the head of the screw 2| when the carriage is in theposition shown in the Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6. The carriage may be removedfrom housing H by removing the stop 53. When the carriage is replaced itis necessary to partially wind the spring 23 before the pinionre-engages This is accomplished by inserting a key'orother suitabletool, in the spanner holes 55 shown in Fig. 4. Following this procedurethe pinion is again brought into mesh with rack 26 and the carriage.pushed down far enough to replace the stop 53. It is this power storedpreliminarily in spring 23 that urges the last car-. tridge. to 'beremoved'from the clip 35. into its uppermost. position opposite thebarrel of the gun. The loaded orpartially loaded clip may be withdrawn.from'the top of the housing at any time by rocking the trigger 42.

As the cartridgestare consecutively removed from the top of the clip bythe loading mechanism of the gun, the carriage will rise eachtime acorresponding distance, and as their angle of inclination approaches thehorizontal, arm 21 will shift under the urge of spring 29 about pivot28. The bottom cartridge will accordingly be elfeetively supportedduring its journey from the bottom-to: the top of the clip. i

In speaking of the cartridge being supported in a. vertical row or stackand of certainparts being verticalgor movable in a vertical direction,it will be understood'that the term "vertical" is used to mean a.vertical direction whenthe barrel of the gun is substantiallyhorizontal, as illustratedin Fig. l, and as it would be'in normal levelfiring position. The term vertical is thus used as meaning generally atright angles to the length of theweapon. I I V The foregoing descriptionismerely illustrative and not intended as limiting the inventionthereto.

I claim:

1. In a gun of the class described having means or onsecu ive y ansfe ncar ridges .froml leading position into the breech of said gun,cartridge feeding mechanism com risin a housing en a e top an ha in a rionv dep n i from sa d sun etwe n ts t ig er and thesaid breech, acarriag forwardly mounted 0 vertical i ro ation in, said riousins. astationa y-v i v ack aidh sin a pinion iourna ed i said carriage and inmesh with said racl ,1a spiral spring operatively connected between saidpinien and said carriage so as to be energizefdby the downward travel ofsaid pinion along said rack,

n r p ted to said car a e and exte din arm and extending upwardly and.tqward' said carriage, a U-shaped clip for supporting'a row ofcartridges, open at top and bottom with converging side walls at the topopening for engaging the top cartridge in said row, and constructed andarranged to be inserted through the top of said housing, whereupon acartridge in said clip will engage said arm and spring member, and forcesaid carriage downwardly against the urge of said spiral spring, andlatching means for holding said clip in a fixed position so long as acartridge remains therein, said clip being constructed and arranged tofall free of said housing when empty.

2. In a gun of the class described having a trigger and means forsuccessively loading cartridges into the breech of said gun, a clip forholding a single row of cartridges, a housing secured to said gun andextending downwardly in front of said trigger, a channel in said housingfor receiving said clip in a, vertical position with the uppermostcartridge in the clip in a substantially horizontal position to beengaged by said loading means, a vertically extending guideway in saidhousing laterally oifset from said'clip receiving channel, a verticallyextending stationary rack adjacent said guideway, a carriage movablevertically in said guideway, a pinion journaled in said carriage and inmesh with said rack, a spiral spring operatively connected between saidpinion and said carriage and efiective to cause said pinion to climbsaid rack and urge said carriage upwardly, and an arm carried by saidcarriage and extending into said clip receiving channel and engaging thelowermost of said cartridges,

to elevate said cartridge successively into position for loading intosaid breech.

3. Cartridge feeding mechanism comprising a housing for holding a clipin vertical position with a row of tapered cartridges contained therein,a vertical rack in said housing, a movable carriage beneath saidcartridges, a pinion J'ournaled in said carriage and in mesh with saidrack, a spiral spring operatively connected between said pinion and saidcarriage effective to cause said pinion to climb said rack and urge saidcarriage upwardly toward said cartridges, an arm pivoted to saidcarriage and extending outwardly for engagement with the casing of thebottom cartridge in said row, spring means for urging said arm upwardly,supplemental spring means secured to said arm and constructed andarranged to engage said bottom cartridge beneath the bullet therein andcontribute to the support of said row, whereby said row of cartridgeswill be held in contact with each other and be urged upwardly in arising order characterized by a progressively diminishing degree ofangular inclination from the horizontal, and into a substantiallyhorizontal position at the top of said clip.

4. In a gun of the class described, having means for successivelytransferring cartridges from a loading position into the breech of saidgun, cartridge feeding mechanism comprising a clip hold-' ing a verticalstack of cartridges disposed one above the other in substantiallyhorizontal position, a housing having in its rearward portion avertically extending channel for receiving said clip, a vertical rack inthe forward portion of said housing, a vertical guideway in the forwardportion of said housing adjacent said rack, a carriage verticallymovable along said guideway and constructed and arranged to engage thelowermost of the cartridges held by said clip, said clip being soconstructed, proportioned and arranged that when in position in thehousing it does not obstruct the movement of said carriage along saidguideway, a pinion journaled in said carriage and in mesh with saidrack, a spiral spring operatively connected between said pinion and saidcarriage and effective to cause said carriage to climb said rack andurge said cartridge upwardly to elevate said cartridges successivelyinto leading position during operation of the gun, and latching meansfor holding said clip against upward movement so long as a cartridgeremains therein and for automatically releasing said clip when empty.

COSIMO D. SPAGNOLO.

